Archive for Goals
Invest In the Right Tools
Posted by: | CommentsAre you investing in the right tools to build your life into the success you dream, desire and deserve?
If you have ever sat in a fine car, a fine home or just stood in front of a beautiful painting, you will have noticed not only the artistry and attention to detail that went it that car, home or painting. But upon closer inspection you would have noticed the quality of the raw materials that the home was made of, the attention to detail in the painting and how well the individual parts of that fine car worked concert make your driving experience a far more pleasurable one.
So I would ask you again are you investing in the right set of tools to help yourself become a success? If you truly desire to reach your goal, achieve higher level of success or become all that you can become then you are going to need to make sure you are building your success on a foundation of quality materials put together by quality tools.
When I was a kid I remember wanting to build a club house in the field across the street from my house. My and my best friend Walter, went around the neighborhood and behind the local shops collecting various materials: pieces of scrap wood, old used and often rusted or bend nails, tarps, pieces of scrap metal and so on. Then with an old hammer and saw we set to work to build our clubhouse.
Four to six hours, three blisters, two spinters and one wounded thumb later, we were sitting within the four walls and shoddy roof of our new club house. While it was fun for the few days it remained standing – it sadly toppled with the first breeze.
How many people have you seen approach their success with the same, last minute haphazard methodology? They take scraps of knowledge, and rusted bits of information and try to build their Trump Plaza of success. Which upon the first breeze of trouble – topples over like a deck of cards. Then they do like we did with our club house – leave it their in a pile of discarded waste and move on to the next project dejur.
Create Plans, Gather Quality Materials and Use Worthy Tools
Do not waste your time dragging together an easy access pile of scrap or dead wood knowledge and rusted nails expecting to build a dream house or successful life. Instead, take the time to draw up plans (Set Goals), make a list of all the supplies (Knowledge, resources etc) that you will need, and set about getting them.
Be wary of waste and extravagance in your gathering of your supplies. Balance your willingness to invest in quality supplies with what you truly need to have to get the job done. While, you want to create a ‘house’ that is not only beautiful, but can withstand the elements and endure the test of time. But are you trying to build the Hurst Castle or just a quality four bedroom two and one half bath home that is stable and comfortable? The choice is yours – but knowing answer up front will determine the correct materials you collect. It will be a little difficult to build the Hurst Castle with the studs and drywall you would use to build a house.
Do this in your personal and professional life. Take the time to make sure you have thoughtfully explored the options and have a clear vision of your goal in mind! Plan, research and seek the advices of others in order to have a realistic idea of the skills and knowledge you will need in order to achieve your goals and live the life you dream, desire and deserve! Once you have this blue print of understanding and then you can collect the right skills, knowledge and resources.
Know what you want, be willing to make the necessary investments in energy, time, and money and you CAN make your dreams become your reality!
Here are three questions to help your reach Your Success At Last – take the time to sit down and write out your ansers.
Your Success At Last Questions:
- Do I have a clear picture of my goals?
- Have I taken the time to figure out what skills I may need to achieve my goals?
- What investments are necessary to succeed?
Think Successfully & Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches & Author of Success Atlas Programs
FREE Video reveals how I went from the
Streets of LA to running my own company!
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Beliefs Abandon Or Action Txt Version
Posted by: | CommentsAttitude ranks high on the list of things that drive what action you take or do not take. Your attitude is molded by the things you think about during the majority of your waking hours, as well as your deep seeded beliefs. Your beliefs further influence your thoughts about the world around you. So, your beliefs are one of the roots to your success. Put simply – your thinking and your beliefs will, either fuel fear and cause you to abandon attempts, or fuel confidence moving you to action. Which do you believe will facilitate your desired level success, abandon or action?
Yes, it is true your beliefs have that much power. What you believe about relationships, risk, goal-setting, success and failure will either push you towards your dreams and goals or push them away from you. It has been said that the basic success formula is:
Belief + Time = Success.
As with any formula – the more of one addend you have, then the less the other addend you will need. In other words, the more positive belief you have, the less time you will need. The more positive belief you have regarding your success the more action you will take. Thus, the less time you will need in order to reach your desired goal. Remember though, the opposite will be true as well. The more negative belief you have about one or more aspects of your success, the more time it will take to reach your goal.
So, how can we ensure that our beliefs are empowering us to the level of success that we desire? Here are three tips that you can put into action right away to positively impact your thoughts, beliefs and everything they will bring into your world.
- Define your ‘Success Atlas’ for every area of your life; your business, your relationship(s), your finances, etc. Your ‘Success Atlas’ is your vision of your future and a set of goals that are designed to bring that vision into your reality. If you do not know how to define your success atlas here are a few previous posts that will get you headed in the right direction:
http://www.yoursuccessatlast.com/wp/2009/12/11/goal-setting-for-success-5-tips-to-map-out-crystal-clear-goals/and here is a Blog Talk Radio Show that I did on creating your success atlas (Goal Plan)
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/tracybrinkmann/2009/04/18/Goal-Setting-101Having your ‘Success Atlas’ defined will give you something to wake up to each day. This well defined set of goals will push you to take action and even put a smile on your face as you think about the compelling future that you are creating for yourself and those you love.
- Remove negative inputs from your day. All around you are various negative inputs that are slowly whittling away at your desire and passion to reach your goal. These inputs range from the television, newspapers, new broadcasts, some movies and music. Even some of the people in your life (yourself included) can be donating negative input. They may even be well meaning in what they have to share, but could be the source of negative inputs none the less. Not all of any one of these categories is 100% negative, but, many are and you need to deter as much negative input from your mind as possible. You need to make it a passion to eliminate as many of these negative donators as you can – ban them from your day.
The universe is an interesting thing in that as you pull out the negative inputs, they leave a vacuum. The universe does not like a vacuum and will look to fill that vacuum with something. If you keep pulling out the negative – all that it left to put into that vacuum is positive input. So remove negative inputs from your world and replace them with positive inputs.
- Dig, Uncover, and substitute the negative beliefs you have. What negative behaviors do you have? What negative things do you say to yourself and others? In and of themselves these behaviors and words may not be negative. But, given your vision and your goals they could promote behaviors and thoughts that are holding you back. Be totally honest with yourself in searching for these negative values and bad habits. Once again create that vacuum – remove them from your daily routine – and replace them with empowering words, values and habits. Ones that will push you towards your goals and dreams.
In defining ‘Success Atlas’ you need to create a powerful why. Creating a powerful ‘why’ for why you want to accomplish a goal or a dream builds up energy like an electric power plant. Much like that plant, the ‘why’ will pump energy through the ‘power lines’ of your mind. Energy just waiting to be released. Your beliefs have the power to flick the switch and brighten your entire life – or leave you in the dark. So, sit down, define your own personal Success Atlas, remove the negatives from your world, and replace your harmful beliefs, words and habits with empowering ones. As you mold your beliefs, they will flick on the switch; releasing your power plant of energy and brighten your life and the lives of those you care about.
Empowered Beliefs produces empowered action;
Empowered Action produces an empowered life!
Think Successfully and Take Action!
Tracy Brinkmann
One of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches
FREE Video reveals how I went from the
Streets of LA to running my own company!
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Beliefs Abandon or Action
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Overcoming Procrastination Part 3 Text
Posted by: | CommentsProcrastination only seems like a harmless habit,
Procrastination has many negative consequences
Procrastination can even have LONG lasting costs!
Hey Tracy Brinkmann here from Your Success At Last .com. We here we are with entry three of your Procrastination series. Over the next few blog entries I will share with you tips for overcoming procrastination.
First, thank you for all your positive emails, tweets and feed back about this procrastination series. I am so glad you are enjoying it and even looking forward to this and the next entry.
One note I want to share with you right now – which is in response to a comment on why haven’t I actually given you a tool to curb the procrastination habit yet. So far I have only asked you to list some projects you’ve been putting off and would like to accomplish as well as some reasons to get it done and excuses you have been giving your self etc.
The answer is simple and actually very logical. In all the group and individual coaching that I have done over the years I have found one thing to be absolutely true. That one thing is the better I get you to understand the very thing you are trying to overcome the much easier it is and more successful you will be when I give you to tips and tools to overcome it. The work will still be there to be done but the groundwork to get it done will be more solid and you will be more motivated towards its accomplishment.
So I have spent the last two blogs entries getting you to look at your procrastination from different angles, or excuses etcs. Today we will talk about the real price you pay for your procrastination then next session knowing that you have looked at your procrastination from all these angles – I will start giving you some tools to begin chipping away at it.
So now let’s talk about the Price of Procrastination
Procrastination like ANY bad habit comes along with a cost or a price tag if you will. Like poor health habits, eating or drinking habits – that cost might be evident right away. But over time the cost builds and builds usually until it’s too late. That cost can come in many forms. Here are seven prices you WILL pay for your procrastination. This is not a comprehensive list but one that should enlighten you – hopefully before it is too late!
- GUILT
Procrastinators are well aware of the guilt factor and feel its price far more then they would like. They feel guilty for not getting the report done on time, for the flimsy excuses they try and mask that tardiness with and so on. They feel guilty that they let someone down, or even let themselves down – they feel guilty they can’t break the procrastination cycle. It’s like quicksand, it slowly sucks you in. By the time you feel in danger and start to try to escape, you are so deep that you have to work so hard – you often give up. Resulting in your getting pulled in deeper. - ANXIETY
If you are able to rush around and get the late report in at the last minute – there will be this firestorm of anxiety churning within you. A firestorm that has an impact on your body. Studies have shown that procrastinating college students reported nearly 9 illness symptoms a week, while non-procrastinating student report only ½ that. Procrastination has REAL effect on you even if you have an excuse your body will know the truth. - RELATIONSHIPS STRESS
Procrastination effects more then just the procrastinator – if affect their friends and family as well. Parents procrastinating a child’s needs can turn that child rebellious, defensive and cynical. This can cause the parent to resort to more aggressive parenting methods furthering the downward spiral. Friends and spouses can get frustrated with one anther as a result of unmet expectations or unfinished projects and dreams not realized together. Which lead into… - LOSS OF TRUST
Trust is eroded with the flimsy and repeated excuses. The procrastinator might even be blind to the trust fading away – but the word will get around that they can’t be relied on to get things done in time or at all or if does get done the quality of the work will come into question etc. A bad reputation is VERY difficult to repair and it takes a long to do repair it. - OPPORTUNITIES LOST
Procrastinator miss out on huge opportunities such as job promotions, completion of wage impacting certification and degrees, meaningful relationships, business opportunities and so much more. They miss nurturing themselves to their full potential. - SELF CONFIDENCE
I would content that is impossible to feel good about yourself when you are doling out excuses for late projects and little white lies to cover your procrastination. Inside the procrastinator knows the truth and feels like a lair and a failure. So when the next project comes along their already wounded self confidence does not offer much stimulus change thus causing them to sink even deeper in the low self-esteem quicksand I mentioned earlier. This leads into… - DIGGING THE HOLE DEEPER
Every time the procrastinator defers, delays or doesn’t even start a project they reinforce the procrastination habit. A habit is something that you have done so many times that you begin to do it without conscious thought. So it becomes less and less recognizable as it becomes 2nd nature.
If you are still with me on this procrastination series I will assume you are a procrastinator or care for someone who is experiencing one or more of these prices of procrastination. The remaining blog entries, in this series, are going to focus on overcoming this savage success sucking, self-esteem chipping, relationship ruining, performance bogging and job threatening beast.
Here are Your Success At Last actions to take:
- What is your Price of Procrastination?
Review the negative consequences you wrote down from the first entry in this series – do you want or need to add anything to your list? - Write down how your life will be different when you no longer have to live with these consequences.
- Update your list of positive rewards / consequences you will enjoy when you have completed your project(s).
- Have these two lists up where you can see them as you work through the project and this procrastination series.
Seriously, take these three actions NOW – and in the next part of this series you will be primed and ready for you first tip to overcome your procrastination!
Until next time – think successfully & take Action!
Tracy
One of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches
FREE Video reveals how I went from the
Streets of LA to running my own company!
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Overcoming Procrastination Part 1 Text
Posted by: | CommentsProcrastination is the source of stress and feelings of low self esteem.
Procrastination makes life much harder then the very task being put off.
Procrastination makes life much harder then it should be!
Hey Tracy Brinkmann here from Your Success At Last .com. Over the last few video blog entries I have been bringing you tips for overcoming procrastination. It was been brought to my attention (thank you friends for your feed back) that not everyone can or will watching video blog entries. So from now on after the video blog entry I will post a text version for your reading pleasure. To get us started let me catch everyone up with the Procrastination Series I have been posting (which we are almost ½ way through)
I will be brining you 10 tips for overcoming procrastination. Being guilty of procrastination myself I have come to learn that I am not alone. 25% of the entire population openly admits to being a procrastinator. Research says that 70% of us have a serious problem with procrastination.
Coming from the Latin word ‘pro’ meaning forward combined with ‘crastinus’ meaning tomorrow – giving you a the putting forward until tomorrow of a task that should be done today or worse yet the day before yesterday.
Now if you are like me and if you’re still listening to this video blog entry then I am going to assume you are. Anyway if you are like me – you start your task or project with great intentions, passion and hope for its successful completion. You set a goal, make a plan get your hopes up heck you might even actually get started but somewhere along the way either with the taking of step one or moving on to step two you can seem take that first or next step.
Many in academia agree that the reasons for procrastination are as varied as the tasks they impact. One psychologist at the California Institute for Technology says that although it may seem like there is a lack of willpower or that the person is lazy – procrastination is often something far different. It could be a fear, like a fear of failure or even a fear of success (yes you heard me fear of success). Tendencies toward perfection can paralyze people into inaction. Again the list goes on and on.
Net net again we all start of with great intentions but somewhere along the way we falter. New Years resolutions are a perfect example. Did you know the 70% of all new years’ resolutions are abandoned by February 1st?
Well if procrastination is such a success sucking, self-esteem chipping, relationship ruining, performance bogging and job threatening problem why you ANYONE engage in it. I mean we are all smart enough to be aware of it and avoid it right? RIGHT? Yet some how it creeps into our lives time and again, stealing our dreams, robbing our pleasures and putting the weight of guilt on our shoulders.
Well that’s why I’m going to be giving you a series of tips on overcoming procrastination. Now you may ask – why not give them all to me at once Tracy? That’s what you have been doing with goal setting, and shopping and all your other topics lately.
Well the reason is, deciding to stop procrastinating along won’t work. It is not just simply a matter of making a promise to yourself not to procrastinate any more – well not for most of us anyway. It is a matter of taking the HABIT of procrastinating – in whatever area of your life you are doing it and replacing that bad habit with a better one.
That is not something done in a single day – so I’m spacing this video blog entries out to help you truly try and break that procrastination cycle by giving it to you over time – so you can take it step by step and really deeply drive in the new habit – make it a part of who you are.
Here are Your Success At Last actions to take:
- Write down three projects or tasks that you have been putting of, or have had good intentions of started – yet haven’t started or haven’t continued to completion
- Write down what excuses you have been giving yourself (or others) to defend your not starting or completing these tasks & projects
- Write down how NOT completing these tasks or project have negatively impacted you (physically, financially, emotionally etc)
- Pick one of these three projects and put it on a 3×5 index card. This will be the project that you will focus on during the future video blog posts – the one that we will work together on getting done.
- Post the index card where you will see it every day, perhaps on your bathroom mirror or on your monitor – so it reminds you to check out the next video blog post.
Seriously, take these three actions NOW – and tomorrow we will review excuses and challenge
Until next time – think successfully & take Action!
Tracy
Once of Today’s Top Motivated Coaches
FREE Video reveals how I went from the
Streets of LA to running my own company!
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Overcoming Procrastination Part 3
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Overcoming Procrastination Part 2
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Overcoming Procrastination Part 1
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Streets of LA to running my own company!
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Three Tips for New Years Resolution and Goal Setting Success
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10 Ways To Climb That Mountain (Goal)
Posted by: | CommentsDaily we are given mountains of tasks to accomplish, bills to pay, problems to fix and customers to call. Standing at the base looking up this mountain of to-dos seems enormous – or worse yet standing on top looking down the sheer drop we would encounter should we falter.
It is sheer madness. How on earth are we going to accomplish this feat? Mountains are big; let us climb this one…
- IS IT REALLY A MOUNTAIN? OR IS IT THAT YOU ONLY SEE A MOUNTAIN?
The task before you could be a 2500-meter climb, a 10,000-meter race, to organize next motivational seminar, buy a pallet of goods or to just keep to your schedule in order to please an important client. In either of these cases, the task before you is indeed a mountain if that is what you see in it!- Take a good look at what lies ahead of you. Let us say you have a relatively short amount of time to organize a meeting for your boss. If the first thing that pops into your head is that you probably will not achieve it in time, therein lies the problem. Without this pre-conception, your job is a simple undertaking. However, when you have convinced yourself it is not possible, you have just created Mt. Fuji when only a moment earlier it was mere baseball mound
- Give yourself some credit. You did not get to where you are now by selling yourself short! Bring the baseball mound back.
- GO AROUND THE MOUNTAIN
It is important to do some research first. There are always many possible answers to the one single problem. We all know it is easier to work our way around the hill rather than to tackle the peak itself. Is the goal to climb to the peak or simply to get to the other side?- If your destination is just to get to the other side then adjust your plan accordingly. Conserve your energy for those things that are indeed closer to your heart.
- DO YOU REALLY NEED TO CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN?
This is very important here. Be overly honest with yourself. Why are you going to climb this mountain? Is it because deep down you really want to accomplish this feat or is it to please somebody else? This is probably the most important issue here. If you climb for the wrong reasons the chances are, at worst, you will fail; and at best, you will have a feeling of being unfulfilled from within.- Do not do everything simply to please someone else. It will severely deflate you. You are the most important person in the world. Treat yourself with the respect you deserve. If you do not, others may infinitely be pressing your buttons
- If you have wanted to get to the peak of this hill then for heavens sake go there and achieve it. The feeling will be exhilarating. If you are indifferent, then find your niche. You will have to seek it out, as it is highly unlikely that it will find you.
- DO NOT DO IT ALONE!
A group of individuals with the same common goal has a habit of drawing incredible power and strength from one another. Plan your trip carefully with experienced mountaineers. A team with the same target has a much greater chance of success than a lone ranger with summit fever.- In relation to your professional life, it is important that you seek out as much knowledge and professional advice as possible from the wealth of information available from others. Tap into as many different success formulae as you can. Educate yourself in your field, even to the point of immersing yourself into it! Become an expert. Even if you are already an expert in your field there are always mountains (pardon the pun) of new material regularly released that will assist you in your endeavors.
- YOU HAVE ALREADY REACHED THE MOUNTAIN PEAK IN YOUR MIND
This is an important training exercise. As you envision, in your mind, the goal (i.e. in this case reaching the summit) as already being achieved, you will sub-consciously adjust your surroundings to make getting there substantially easier.- Visions of success will increase your confidence and therefore your chances of success. Put a goal sheet on your wall, beside your desk, inside your cap, in your wallet, purse…anywhere! Anyway they will be visible to you.
- START CLIMBING FROM THE BEST ACCESS POINT
Experience has shown that the journey will be easier when you start from as close as possible to your goal. Prepare thoroughly. In a nutshell be PT’d (prepared thoroughly) for everything you do.- When thoroughly prepared you will have created answers to problems that have at this time not developed into problems, but will be easily recognizable and solvable if and when they transpire.
- OKAY, YOU HAVE DECIDED TO CLIMB, BUT REMEMBER CLIMBING IS FUN!
You have decided to climb the hill. There is only one lifetime and therefore no time for regrets. Enjoy your climb. If you do not you should not really be there in the first place.- Enjoy what you do, always!
- PLAN FOR EVERY CONTINGENCY
It is always good to be prepared for anything that can potentially happen. Plan ahead and cover all your options. It may seem nit-picking but every parachutist, every motor car racer, virtually every professional will plan for all situations. It is not much point realizing what you need WHEN you need it. Sometimes WHEN you need it, is TOO late and you will go splat. - TRAVEL LIGHTLY
This is straightforward. What you take with you, you will need to carry. There is not much chance of an industrial strength hair drier coming in handy on a way to the top of Mt. Fugi. So, do not take one.- In a business sense, make sure your home life stays in balance with your business life. If you have issues developing on the home front due to your lack of attention to it, your output will indeed be impeded. This will weigh you down and have the same effect a laden backpack would
- Give your mind a break. Do not fill your backpack with non-necessities… Free your mind of these weights by keeping a work/life balance. When those times creep up that require burning some midnight oil. Let the family know – a supportive family will understand the need of extra hours for those special projects and upcoming important clients. Especially when you have been treating them like the most important client you will ever have. (Cause you know they are!)
- ENJOY THE VIEW
You will pass through incredible heights during your journey. Make them memorable; this is a marvelous feat you are accomplishing. Realize it for what it is and you will enjoy it and gain an incredible amount of strength from your accomplishment.
Then once you are about to reach the peak of your current ‘mountain’, start to plan your next rewarding achievement…and start the successful ascent of that goal as well.
Think Successfully & Take Action.
Tracy
FREE Video reveals how I went from the
Streets of LA to running my own company!
View the Free Video and Learn More!